


Executions and Parades

by Soncasong



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Canon Universe, Character Death, Homophobia, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 09:38:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12362901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soncasong/pseuds/Soncasong
Summary: Reiner and Porco's secret meeting is interrupted by a commotion outside their window, unearthing past failures that Reiner would rather not think about.





	Executions and Parades

“Looks like another parade’s happening.” 

Reiner could hear no humor in Porco’s voice, the fading afternoon light casting long shadows on the other man’s face. Another death march, the noisy clamor crawling past the window sill into their little rented room. The processions happened occasionally, the Public Service Authority taking the damned on a parade through the streets of Marley while the public hurled stones and insults at the criminals, culminating in either a fatal encounter with the hangman’s noose or a one way trip to Paradise. The people loved the spectacle.

The crime varied with each parade, but Reiner could make out the slurs. This particular death march was for a group people like him and Porco. Sexual deviants. The only crime that made Marleyans and Eldians equals.

Porco tore himself away from the window, a disgusted scowl etched accross his face. His eyes fell on Reiner, lying on the dingy bed in the corner of the room, trying to will the din outside the window away.

“Don’t forget what we came here for.” Porco said, briskly moving to the bed and cupping Reiner’s face, pulling him in for a kiss. Rough, chapped lips fought each other for dominance, Porco’s fingers digging into Reiner’s skin hard enough to bruise.

Reiner still wonders how they have gotten to this point. This thing they have. This physical, angry thing, with Porco taking out his frustration with every thrust and Reiner too wracked with guilt and starved for physical contact to fight back. This thing was dangerous. The two of them have been renting out this room for the past month, after the bathrooms and closets started feeling claustrophobic, furtively meeting after hours to do intimate things. Illegal things. Things that could get them killed. 

Porco ripped open Reiner’s shirt without hesitation, biting a trail from Reiner’s neck down to his abdomen. Reiner closed his eyes, throwing his head back at the sensation, at the touch, at the intimacy of it all. His body shivered as Porco traced his tongue over the grooves and curves of his abdomen, tantalizingly lowering past his navel.

The screams continued. The sounds outside the window grew in volume. The man trying to shield his lover, the sound of rock hitting something soft and squishy.

Reiner let out a choked sob. The memories came rushing back,  Bertolt’s face flashing in his mind. Meek, kind, unassuming Bertolt, left on that infernal island. Dead. Reiner could feel Porco getting frustrated underneath him, guttural grunts voicing the other man’s displeasure. He had gone limp, his shivers of pleasure morphing into tremors of fear.

Porco rose, cold anger burning in his eyes, “You think you have the right to feel sorry for yourself? Now?” His body trembled with the effort of keep his voice quiet, “You screwed up on Paradis. You killed Bertholdt, and Annie, and Marcel.”

Porco suddenly slumped, eyes hollow, like a marionette dangling on severed strings. His voice was barely a whisper, “What the fuck have I been doing. Sleeping with my brother’s killer.”

Reiner could not meet Porco’s eyes. Hiding his face in the crook of his arm, he let the guilt pelt him like a shower of stones. Porco was right. Reiner was a failure. He failed to notice the titan, failed to save Marcel, failed his mission. He even failed to protect Bertolt, failed to protect the person he loved. Just like the wailing man outside the window. Reiner was disgusted with himself. He crumpled, his body sticky with sweat and tears and Porco’s saliva, wracking with each sob.

It felt like an eternity before Reiner heard Porco move. He expected Porco to gather up his clothes and leave, forever, just like everyone Reiner has ever held dear, but the creak of the bed straining beneath newly added weight turned into a pair of strong arms wrapped around his shoulders, enveloping Reiner in reassuring warmth.

“You’re pitiful,” Porco said softly, “and I’m crazy.”

He pulled Reiner in tighter, “Let’s stay like this, for now, you can pay me back in the morning.”

Wretches like him do not deserve happiness, but Reiner is thankful that this cruel world has given him Porco in this bed next to him. The death march a distant memory, Reiner allowed himself to relax, praying that his nightmares will give him respite for a night.

This thing they had, this physical, angry, dangerous thing, was far from perfect, but it was more than Reiner ever deserved.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Populating the Gallirei tag, one fic at a time. I wish people would explore the implications of homophobia in fanfiction a bit more, especially in the Attack on Titan universe. I mean, Marley is pretty close to WWII Germany, where LGBT people where regularly persecuted and put in concentration camps. 
> 
> I posted the original, unedited version of this on FanFiction, hated it, and then took it down. The original fic was a lot fluffier, but this ship is literally angst personified, so I reworked it into this. Criticism is always welcome, I'm a noob at writing.


End file.
